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Record-breaking chills

Trek along the ridge between Dome Fuji and Dome Argus on the East Antarctic ice sheet and you’ll find the coldest place ever recorded on Earth. The record was set on 10 August 2010, when the surface temperature of a pocket of snow on the ridge plummeted to -93.2 °C, the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco heard this week.

Viagra pain relief

Relief from menstrual pain could come from an unusual source. A small study of 25 women shows that vaginally applying sildenafil citrate, sold as Viagra, seems to reduce menstrual pain without any side effects, although how it subdues the pain remains a mystery (Human Reproduction, doi.org/qff).

Space rock re-emerges

A rare meteorite that might contain parts older than the solar system has been rediscovered by an amateur astronomer in the Netherlands. The rock was found in 1873, but ended up in a private collection. The 5-centimetre-wide stone is made of a rare carbonaceous chondrite. Similar rocks have contained dust particles predating the solar system.

Lunar blueprint

Moon Express has revealed the design of its MX-1 spacecraft, which it hopes to land on the moon in 2015 in an effort to win the Google Lunar X Prize. The California-based firm says the coffee-table-sized craft could also be used in Earth orbit to service satellites or clean up debris.

Sauron-friendly climate

There’s no dark tower, and the hordes of orcs have been replaced by hipsters, but otherwise Los Angeles is Mordor. Or at least its climate is, according to a climatologist who has simulated the prevailing conditions of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional land of Middle Earth. Conditions in the rest of Middle Earth are similar to Western Europe and north Africa.